Washington, D.C. — On November 30, four students were killed and another seven people were injured during a school shooting in Oxford, Michigan. Sadly, gun violence in America has reached epidemic proportions. Every day, more than 100 people are killed and more than 200 are injured with a gun in the United States.
“We are deeply saddened by this terrible news, and our hearts go out to the families devastated by this tragedy,” said Nicole Lee Ndumele, senior vice president for Rights and Justice at the Center for American Progress. “As we approach the ninth anniversary of the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we are resolved to honor the lives lost to gun violence and to advocate for commonsense gun violence reforms. As a country, we can—and we must—do more to protect our families and communities from gun violence. We must stop spreading the myths that this epidemic is inevitable and that firearms keep us safe. We should continue supporting community-based violence intervention programs across U.S. cities and pass gun violence prevention policies that are supported by most Americans.”
CAP has continuously urged Congress to pass commonsense measures such as banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Specifically, CAP has called on the U.S. Senate to pass legislation that would mandate universal background checks on every gun sale, such as H.R. 8, which has already passed in the House of Representatives.
“Looking ahead, it will be important that we do not use this tragedy to stigmatize students with disabilities or overexpose schools to law enforcement, which would create environments that feel more like juvenile detention than centers of hope and learning,” said Khalilah Harris, managing director for K-12 Education Policy at CAP. “It’s important that we embrace commonsense gun reforms rather than prematurely punitive measures that threaten and stigmatize our most vulnerable students, while doing little to keep any student safer.”
For more information or to speak with an expert on this topic, please contact Tricia Woodcome at [email protected].